When Louvre-Worthy Paintings Invade the Streets

A classically trained painter, artist Julio Anaya Cabanding has found an immense, sprawling canvas to call his own: the streets. Referring to his work as “contemporary artistic decontextualisations”, Cabanding recreates classical paintings on graffiti-streaked walls of Malaga, Spain. Fascinated by the idea of “stealing” a Louvre-worthy painting and transferring it to unexpected surroundings, his pictorial interventions question an artwork’s value and relationship with its environment and audience. So the next time you suddenly see Monet’s Poppy Fields or Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait while roaming the streets of Malaga, you’ll know who’s behind it.